Conventional barcode printers are normally equipped with a media guide to help control the position of print media supplied from a media supply roll and rewound onto a media rewind roll in an effort to obtain good printing performance during printer operation. The media supply roll comprises print media wound onto a media core. The media rewind roll may be a depleted media supply roll, or an empty media take (i.e., an empty media core).
However, conventional media guides may be too big, obstructing loading and unloading of the media supply roll onto and from a media supply spindle of the printer and/or obstructing loading and unloading of the media rewind roll onto and from a media rewind spindle of the printer. Conventional media guides may alternatively be too small to sufficiently guide (i.e., control the position of) the full media supply roll and/or the full media rewind roll all the way through to depletion. Media guides that are too small may also damage the print media due to physical edge contact as the print media unwinds from the media supply roll.
Therefore, a need exists for media guides for use in printers, and methods for using the same. There is also a need for media guides that permit unobstructed loading and unloading of the media supply roll and/or media rewind roll, achieve good guiding performance, and may be used in printers having limited space.